The Flint water crisis

The Flint water crisis is real. All of the water is contaminated. Let me tell it, that is straight piss and raw sewage spilling into the homes of thousands of taxpayers. What is even crazier to me is that the residents of Flint, Michigan have had this problem for a while now. The rest of the country is just now getting to know about it. This is worse than the water crisis that happened in Detroit a few years ago. What is really going on with the the state of Michigan? This situation and how it is being handled speaks volumes. Flint’s water crisis has made me revisit the topics of water privatization and sanitation practices in America. We all need water to survive. There is no way around that.

When the water was first coming out as a light brownish color (as early as 2014), the officials in Flint told the residents that the water was fine and safe to drink. The residents actually put all of their trust in what they were told regardless of how discolored and foul- smelling the water was. As a result, we now have sick people all over Flint, and the numbers keep rising. The Flint water crisis is real! We have children who are suffering from lead poisoning. People are washing their babies in this water. People are dying behind this water. This has been going on for a long time. Like I said, we are just now starting to hear about and understand how much of a crisis this really is. However, it is the residents that have been subjected to dealing with these living conditions for much longer. This is crazy as hell…

This situation is far worse than the water crisis that happen in Detroit Michigan a couple of years back. Residents were being charged crazy amounts on their water bill. It was so bad that approximately 40% of the city (mainly us.. Black people) didn’t have any access to running water. What was even more frustrating about that situation was the lack of unity and failed media reporting.  I was actually working with a non-profit organization during the time that the water crisis happened in Detroit. We went on a campaign to raise funds to get the residence of Detroit bottled water. We did not care about what got Detroit to that point, we just wanted to help. I immediately decided to get involved because I am a mother. I couldn’t imagine not being able to wash my child or give her drinking water. Whenever you don’t have clean water, or even worse no water, you cannot live. Your life expectancy is reduced to mere days.. DO YOU GET IT NOW?!?!?

THIS IS SERIOUS!!

What was very disheartening to me was the fact that people were so caught up and blaming politics versus donating a got-damn dollar. Questioning the reason behind the crisis is cool but can we get some water now? That situation put a really bad taste in my mouth. It seems as though people do not care until the situation hits their backyard. Hello!!!! If Flint isn’t your backyard, then I don’t know what to tell you. We have to take it a step farther than just paying attention. We have to get involved. As people, we have to look out for one another because our government isn’t doing it. They just poisoned a whole city…. This is America, not a third world country. Why do we have major cities in the United States who are subjected to living in third world country conditions?

#3RDWORLDAMERICA

Please feel free to leave any helpful information in the comments. Thank You.
–BK